The Tempest
by FlynnWriter
Summary: Olivia and Elliot meet up with the criminal minds team when the rape of a young girl and her family's kidnapping match a string of violent crimes from across the country. NOTE: The first three chapters are pure SVU, but from the fourth chapter will begin a SVU/ Criminal Minds crossover.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1 **

Kate Jessup lay in her bed, fog swirling through her normally sharp mind. Her arms ached, and her chest, and her legs, and…between her legs. Every twitch, every blink, every thought seemed to hurt. She struggled to keep her eyes open, desperately searching for her a lifeline. Her hand, bloody and shaking, looked so foreign to her that it was like someone else reached out and fished for the cell phone that had slipped between her bed frame and mattress. She tried to roll over onto her side, but her feet were bound to the bedposts with two of her scarves from the prismatic collection that hung in the closet. Taking a deep, shuddering breath, Kate mustered the last dregs of her consciousness to dial the numbers.

"911, what is your emergency?" The female voice was too calm, too reserved to register in Kate's frantically fading mind.

"Attacked…" She whispered. "Help." She closed her eyes, trying to block out the harsh sunlight that was streaming through the window. Her head throbbed, rolling waves of pain that ebbed and flowed with each word.

"Ma'am, are you in danger?" Kate still couldn't understand the words through the shooting pain all over her body that threatened to overtake her senses.

"Need…help." She said, trailing off. "Get Ethan…"

"Ma'am? Please, stay on the line. Is there someone else with you? Are you in danger?" But the questions fell on deaf ears. Kate was unconscious, and the sleek black phone slid out of her slackened grip, landing on the floor with a resoundingly foreboding crack.

* * *

The alert message crackled over the radio as Elliot and Olivia got into the car, steaming cups of coffee in hand. They listened intently, then stared in disbelief. "That's right down the road." Olivia said, reaching for the transmitter as apprehension grew in her stomach. They had been in the neighborhood to interview a suspect on exposure charges, and stopped for a cup of coffee on the way back to the headquarters.

"I'm on it." Eliot said, flooring the gas pedal and flicking on the sirens.

"SVU portable responding, over. Request back-up." Olivia chanted, craning her head to see the houses fly past. "There!" She called, pointing to an apartment building on the corner, "First floor." The tires squealed as Elliot slammed into park.

They hauled out of the car, un-holstering their guns and running up to the door. "NYPD!" Elliot shouted, hitting the door with his fist. "We're coming in!" The apartment was silent. He tried the knob, which turned easily in his hand, and slowly pushed the door open, sweeping the room with his gun. "Clear." He said, walking in. The hallway was narrow, but well lit. There were family pictures on the wall, a mother, daughter, and son wearing coordinating outfits and smiling back at their visitors from gilt frames.

Olivia quickly followed him, looking around as she stalked behind him. "El, there's blood drops." She said, motioning with the tip of her boot to a round maroon spot on the wooden floor

He nodded and continued checking rooms. Finally, there was one door left. Olivia pushed it open, and sighed. "I found our caller." She holstered her gun and walked in carefully, trying to avoid disturbing any evidence.

"Someone tore her up." Elliot said, looking over Liv's shoulder. They surveyed the room, frowning at the ruined innocence before them. Their victim was lanky and appeared athletic, judging by the cross country trophies that lined the walls. Her brown hair was bunched in what was once a sleek bun, and a wrinkled pencil skirt lay discarded on the floor next to a blouse and pantyhose. "There's no blood on the clothes other than spatter, so either she was attacked after she changed, or she knew her attacker." Aside from the desiccated woman lying on the bed, the room could have belonged to any young college girl; there were pictures of her friends and a school pennant tacked to the wall, scattered papers on the desk, and a psychedelic array of clothes hanging in the open closet.

Olivia snapped on a glove, gently stepping over a stack of books and some shoes on the floor and pressing her fingers against the victim's neck. "Wait…El…she's got a pulse!" She leaned over the prone girl, trying to find the source of the blood pooling underneath her.

"We need a bus!" Elliot shouted into his radio, running to Olivia's side. He untied the sparkling scarves that secured her feet to the bed, struggling not to think of his own daughters. "Unconscious?" He asked.

"Very." Olivia responded, trying to stem the bleeding from a gash on the girl's left side, just below her ribs. "Hang in there," she muttered. "You're going to be okay."

"Liv." Elliot said, his breath hitching. He pointed to bruises on the victim's thighs. "I think she was raped." She was naked on the bed, save a pair of pearl earrings. Her right arm was bent out of shape, probably broken, and aside from the gash on her side, their perpetrator had sliced her arms, feet, and chest. Bruises already mottled her fair skin, and would get worse as they healed, turning her into a canvas of dark purples and blues.

"She was tied naked to the bed, Elliot, I doubt it was consensual." Olivia said, still desperately holding her hands over the girl's ribs. Sirens wailed in the distance, and Elliot ran to the front door to meet them and guide the medics inside.

Olivia felt the girl beneath her begin to stir. "Hello? Hey, it's okay, it's okay." Olivia said with a smile, trying to soothe her frantic eyes. "I'm a police officer."

"Who…are you?" She croaked, closing her eyes.

"I'm Olivia." She said gently. "Hang on, there's paramedics coming right now. Just hang on." Olivia could tell that the girl was still teetering on the edge of consciousness. "What's your name?"

"Name's…Kate." She whispered, breathing shallowly. "Get…Ethan. Shouldn't …be…here." Her voice was growing fainter, the breaths few and far between.

"Is Ethan the man who attacked you?" Olivia asked urgently. "Kate…Kate!" Stay with me, Kate…Dammit." The medics ran into the room, dragging their gear and a stretcher. The younger one, a short twenty-something year old with a blond mohawk, took over for Olivia, pressing gauze over the wound and shoving her out of the way.

"Give us space, detective," he said firmly.

"Her name's Kate." Olivia called, stepping back and watching them work. The senior paramedic, stocky and muscled, strapped a neck brace on and flashed a penlight in her eyes. "Kate?" He asked in a brusque voice. "Kate? Her pupils are responsive, no obvious brain trauma."

"Pulse is a little weak," Mohawk medic said, consulting his watch. "There's a lot of blood loss."

"Let's get her out of here." The taller one set up the gurney and they lifted her on, quickly rolling her out of the room. There was barely enough room to maneuver, but soon enough they were rushing down the hallway and out the door. Olivia and Elliot escorted them to the door, but weren't allowed to ride with her. As the ambulance screamed away, Olivia leaned against the doorjamb, looking forlornly at her bloodied hands.

"What the hell was that?" Elliot asked, putting his cell back in his pocket after alerting Cragen to what had happened.

Olivia tried to swipe her bangs out of her eyes with her un-bloodied forearm, but failed and left a small streak of blood behind. "It's our case, that's what it is. And we have a suspect."


	2. Chapter 2

"We don't have a suspect, we have a problem," Elliot said, sitting down next to Olivia on a bench outside the ER. It was bustling, and the oppressive heat of late June was interrupted by a breeze or air conditioning each time the sliding doors swept open.

"What do you mean?" She asked, shielding her eyes against the bright sun.

"Ethan is Ethan Casey, Kate's half- brother."

"It doesn't mean that he's not the attacker."

"He's 10, and skinny as a bean." He held up his phone, showing Olivia a picture of the two siblings. "She could beat him up any day."

"Where is he?"

"MIA for now. He could be with the mother."

"What about Kate's parents? Have they been contacted?" Olivia asked.

Elliot stuck his hand in his pocket and pulled out the notebook where he had been scribbling notes during his call with Cragen. "Both fathers are out of the pictures. Kate's dad died in a car accident when she was nine, and Ethan's dad divorced their mother when he was two and Kate was twelve. He hasn't spoken to the kids since. They live with their mother, Alisa Casey, an actuary. Cragen's working on getting in touch with her."

"Where does the mom work?" Another ambulance pulled up, sirens blaring, and Olivia and Elliot stood up and began to walk around to the other side of the hospital to avoid the noise.

"Kate and Alisa both work downtown, for some insurance company in Kingston Plaza."

"What company?'

"Tate Finston Life Insurance. You ever heard of it?" Olivia shrugged, and Elliot continued. "The mom's office says she's on vacation, but Kate's supervisor said her vacation leave didn't start until tomorrow. She left work early today, around noon. Maybe the mom took Ethan on vacation somewhere, and Kate was going to drive up and join them."

"I hope so. But Kate said something before the medics got to us…She told me, 'Ethan shouldn't be here'…was she hallucinating?"

"Maybe the perp drugged her. Saw her walking home from work, all by herself, and surprised her as she was unlocking the door."

Just then, Olivia's cell beeped twice. She glanced at it and sighed in relief. "Kate's out of surgery. Why don't we go find out?"

* * *

The doctor, a tall Indian man with a domineering personality, stopped them as they walked down the hallway to Kate's room. "Detectives, she's still out. She'll wake up in two or three hours, but she's sedated for the time being."

"Doctor, we need to talk to her!" Elliot explained. "We need to interview her, and get the scum that did this to her off the streets."

"Do you know the full extent of her injuries, Detective Stabler?" The doctor's gaze was withering.

"You know I don't, doc."

"We processed and catalogued all her injuries, and we took a rape kit. He broke her right arm in three places, and two of her ribs. When he stabbed her in the side, he nicked the spleen and jostled the broken ribs, pushing them even more out of place."

Olivia's face paled. "So when I was stopping the bleeding…"

"You were pressing on the broken ribs too. But I doubt she felt any pain at that point." The doctor said kindly. "The cuts on her arms and chest are minor, but will probably scar."

"Was she raped?" Elliot interrupted.

"I'm getting there. Before he raped and stabbed her, he beat her in the stomach and across the face, probably with his fists. Our examinations show that he penetrated her multiple times, and there is severe bruising between her legs that suggests it was quite brutal. Throughout this whole ordeal, Kate's legs were bound to the bedposts, so there is more bruising around her ankles. But that is the least of her worries." The doctor finished and looked up from his chart. "She's quite strong. I'm amazed that she was able to call 911 with all the internal and external bleeding."

Liv shook her head. "I don't know how she did it. Was she drugged?"

"I think so." The doctor said. "That's one thing that confused me. The lab found excessive amounts of morphine in the blood samples we sent down. It would have been fatal if she had been given any more than the does she received. The medics insisted that they didn't use any morphine."

"Why wouldn't they use morphine?" Elliot asked.

"She was unconscious, and barely breathing. They had more important things to worry about."

"What would she have felt?" Olivia asked, pulling out her own notebook.

The doctor scratched his head. "Drowsy, certainly. Probably nauseous."

"But will she remember what happened?"

"It's impossible to say until you talk to her. For her sake, I hope she doesn't."

Elliot shoved his hands in his pants pockets. "For the sake of catching the man that did this to her, I hope she does."

* * *

Olivia sat in a chair next to Kate's hospital bed as the sun set outside the window. The chair wasn't exactly comfortable, one of those looks-cushy-but-isn't jobs that starts hurting your butt after two minutes. But she had been there for two hours, watching the city bubble beneath her from the twelfth floor window. Elliot had called once to tell her they still hadn't found the mother, but she hadn't heard any news for an hour. Her phone rang again, and she picked it up immediately, not wanting to wake Kate.

"El? What's going on?"

"Just wanted to update you. We still can't find either of them, but the mother owns a cabin upstate, just west of Lake Champlain. We're trying to get a hold of her there, but her cell is either dead or turned off."

"We can't catch a break!" Olivia said, running a hand through her hair.

"We sent the rape kit to the lab, but there's a back-up because one of the machines isn't working, and I got quite an earful when I complained to Cragen about it. They're working on it."

"What's her history?" Olivia asked, looking at the girl's battered form nestled underneath the stiff white cotton sheets.

"Kate? Umm…" Olivia could hear him typing furiously on a keyboard. "Kate Jessup, age 20, just finished her junior year at NYU Stern College of Business. She took an internship at Tate Finston this summer. We've got some news articles on her…" Elliot whistled appreciatively. "Girl was valedictorian of her senior class and gave the graduation address. She was also a pretty good athlete, she ran in the state cross country meet a couple of times."

"Did she ever win it?" Olivia asked, turning back to the window and pressing her forehead against the glass.

"No…I don't think so. Why do you want to know?"

"I'm just trying to get a handle on this girl…there's something about her."

"Has she woken up yet?"

"No." Olivia said, sitting down in the chair again. "Wait…" She heard a small whimper, and saw Kate's eyebrows contract into a tight line.

"What? What's going on?" Elliot asked.

"I'll call you back!" She hung up abruptly and tucking her phone into her pocket. "Kate?" She whispered, stepping over to the bed. "Kate, can you hear me?" Another noise escaped her mouth, a small groan. Kate tried to turn away from her invisible attacker and cried out in her sleep.

"Kate, wake up!" Olivia said, laying a hand on her un-bandaged shoulder. The contact only made the girl thrash around more, and Olivia was afraid she was going to hurt herself further. "Kate!" She said firmly, trying to wake her.

"No…No!" She cried, coming out of her stupor. "Get off…me…Ethan…" Olivia was torn between running to get a doctor and staying to comfort her when Kate's eyes flew open, completely panicked.

"Kate? Look at me, Look at me! You're safe here." Olivia said quickly, trying not to startle her. She came closer to the bed, leaning over her. "You're safe here, Kate."

"Where am I?" She asked weakly, glancing around the room. "What happened?"

"You're in a hospital. You were attacked in your apartment."

"Who are you?" Kate asked. She tried to sit up, but seemed to suddenly realize just how immobilized she was. "Why does everything hurt?"

"My name is Olivia Benson, I'm a detective with NYPD Special Victims Unit. Like I said, you were attacked in your apartment. Whoever it was, he beat you pretty severely."

"Where's Ethan?" Kate asked, wincing as she turned her head to look around the room.

"He's probably with your mom. Just relax. You're going to be okay. I'm going to go get a doctor, okay?"

"Where's my mom?"

Olivia hesitated. "We're still working on finding her, Kate. Were your mom and Ethan on vacation?"

"Mom's not here? I thought you said…Ethan was with her."

"Are you saying Ethan isn't with your mom?" Olivia asked, struggling not to overreact.

"Ethan was staying home with me, and we were driving up tomorrow. Where is he?" Kate asked, growing distressed. She tried to sit up again, maniacally resisting Olivia's restraining arms. "Let me go! Where's my brother?" She was crying, struggling to get out of the bed. Olivia pressed the call button over and over again, mentally cursing the nurse's poor response time.

"Kate, Kate, relax. He's probably with my partner." She lied, trying to calm her down. A nurse ran into the room, took one look a t Kate, and injected a clear liquid to the IV. It took effect almost immediately, and she fell back onto the pillows, still murmuring and distressed.

"What happened?" The nurse asked Olivia disapprovingly.

"She had a nightmare, I think." Olivia said, already pulling out her cell phone. She walked out of the room and stood outside the door, waiting for Elliot to pick up. "Come one, Come on!" She muttered.

"Liv, what's up?" He asked, his voice tired.

"El, we need an amber alert for Ethan Casey."

"Did Kate wake up? What's going on?"

"She had a nightmare and woke up, but started panicking when I told her we couldn't find Ethan and her mother. Apparently, Ethan was staying home with Kate until they joined the mother at the cabin tomorrow."

"Shit." Elliot's voice was full of angst and worry. "I'll get it out. Do you think Kate's attacker took him? How do we know he didn't just run away?"

"It's been five hours. He would have turned up by now."

"We'll start canvassing anyways. I'll get some uniforms out in the neighborhood just to be safe."

"Call me with any news." Olivia said, leaning against the wall.

"Just relax, Liv." Elliot had a unique way of being both hopeful and realistic, and Olivia cold hear it in his voice now. "Stay with her until we can get a protection detail up. I'll work it from this end."

"Get Munch and Finn on it too. Don't do everything yourself."

"Nope. You're forgetting, Liv. Munch and Finn are at that conference in Nebraska."

"Why Nebraska? Seriously, there's nothing there."

"Stay with Kate, Liv. We'll catch this bastard."

"I'll talk to you later El." She hung up and slid down the wall until she was sitting on the cold floor across from the nurses' desk.

"Detective?" The nurse who had attended to Kate earlier peered over the desk. "Are you alright?"

Olivia ran her hands through her hair. "I'm fine. It's just going to be a long day."

"Can I get you anything?"

"If you can find the scum who would do this to a girl and kidnap a child, that would be great."

She chuckled. "I was thinking a cup of coffee."

Olivia smiled too. "Coffee would be great."

The nurse walked away and disappeared through a door, leaving Olivia sitting on the floor exhausted, half-asleep, and determined as all hell to find the bastard that started it.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

The next morning dawned bright and early, and as Olivia woke up, she felt someone's eyes on her. The feeling unnerved her, and she was confused until she saw that Kate was awake and watching her intently. "You're awake." Olivia said. This was a completely different girl than the one who Olivia had interacted with last night; she was eerily collected and cognizant.

Kate didn't bother with formalities, but began to grill Olivia for information. "So Ethan was kidnapped?"

"We don't know that for sure. He wasn't at your house, but it doesn't mean he was kidnapped. Your mom or a neighbor could have picked him up, or he could have run away. We have an amber alert out now. Is there any way to contact her?"

"My mom doesn't answer the phone at the cabin. Her job is stressful, so the company mandates vacation time for the senior employees. She goes up to the cabin to relax." Kate was calm, and although she seemed a bit fearful, Olivia was gaining confidence that she wouldn't fall apart again.

"What if one of you two gets hurt, or you need something from her?"

"If it's an emergency, we call our neighbors at the cabin and they'll tell her. It's not the best system, but we've never had to use it before. The number's in my phone."

"Okay, we'll call them."

"What are you doing for Ethan?" Again, her demeanor was bizarrely calm and controlled as compared to her nightmare the night before.

"There's an amber alert out, and police are canvassing your neighborhood." Kate nodded, then winced.

"What's wrong?" Olivia asked, moving to call a nurse.

"No, stop, I'm fine." Kate said morosely, closing her eyes and breathing shakily.

"Do you think you could talk about what happened?" Olivia pulled out a notepad and scooted her chair closer. Kate nodded, but still looked weak and frail. "Kate, is there anyone who would want to hurt you?"

"No. I mean, I don't think so."

"Okay. Have you noticed anyone following you, or have you met anyone new recently?"

"Not really. People from work, but no one…weird." She paused. "I would have remembered. I mean, I think…I'm not really sure." She looked lost.

"Kate, do you remember what happened?" Olivia asked gently. She had avoided the subject thus far, talking only about her mom and brother, but Olivia needed information.

"No. I mean, parts."

"Like what?" She asked, pulling the chair closer to the bed and taking out her notepad.

Kate closed her eyes and leaned back into the pillows as if trying to escape. Already, Olivia could see she was crumbling beneath her solid exterior. "Just…one thing. When he tied me to the bed…He…he…" Olivia sat silent, watching her struggle with the words. If she interrupted, it would only be harder for Kate to start again. "He…blindfolded me, and then…he…" The round tears dripping down her pale cheeks threatened to overtake her voice. "He started to stroke me…m-my thighs." She stuttered. "That's it." Olivia leaned over and touched her hand soothingly, but Kate jerked away. "I'm sor-sorry." Kate mumbled, surprised at her own behavior.

"No, it's my fault." Olivia said cautiously, retracting her hand. "You don't remember anything else?"

"No. Nothing. It's just…blank." She still looked at her hand strangely, examining it as if it had acted on its own accord.

"Do you remember anything about the man who attacked you? Did he talk to you? Were you already in the apartment when you were attacked?"

"I don't know." Kate said, rubbing her forehead with her free hand.

"It's okay." Olivia said quietly. She reached out to comfort her, but stopped at the last second.

"I…I don't know why I did that. I'm sorry. It was like a reflex."

"Sometimes physical contact triggers something in your subconscious that reminds you of your attack." Olivia explained gently. "It's not your fault."

Kate shivered. "Olivia, will you tell me what happened?"

"My partner and I found you unconscious in your bedroom after you called 911. You were naked and tied to the posts of your bed." Olivia decided not to mention that she and Elliot had presumed her dead. "The paramedics got there pretty quickly, and brought you to the hospital. Last night, the doctor told us that you had been raped and beaten, and then stabbed not long after. He said it was a miracle you were able to call 911 like you did."

Olivia finished talking, and silence fell over the room like a blanket until Kate spoke. "You said I was raped." Liv nodded, but didn't reveal anything else. Kate stared resolutely at the cast covering her other arm, but spoke again, her voice tiny and timid. For the first time, Olivia could see the fear deep in her eyes. "What did he do to me?" Kate saw her hesitate, and pushed further. "Olivia, please. I need to know."

"We found fluids in your vagina, and that with the bruises that the doctors found suggests that he had sex with you against your will." One tear dripped down Kate's face, then another. Her mouth trembled, and Kate hiccupped a few times before finding the will to speak.

"I…I am…was… a virgin." She said, tears falling faster.

Olivia was trapped. She wanted to comfort her, to hug her and tell her that it was going to be alright, but the way Kate had reacted when Liv had just touched her hand made her think twice. She kneeled down next to the bed, setting her hand next to Kate on the bed. "Kate, I'm sorry." She said, her heart going out to the young woman. "I'm so sorry." She stared into Kate's tearful eyes, trying to say more than she could in words.

A knock sounded on the door, and both women looked up to see Elliot standing in the doorway. "Who's that?" Kate asked, rapidly rebuilding the walls she had let down.

"It's okay, That's my partner Elliot."

"Hi Kate." Elliot said carefully. He kicked himself for interrupting them. "I just need to talk to Detective Benson quickly."

"Go ahead." Kate said firmly. "Talk."

Olivia stood up apologetically. "Kate, I'll just be a minute."

The young girl must have been getting tired, because she accepted it without a fight. "Liv?"

"Yeah?"

"Just come back."

"I'll be right outside the door, Kate. Just a minute." The two stepped outside, closing the door behind them.

"How's she doing?" Elliot asked.

"She asked me what happened to her." Olivia responded, still not sure she had done the right thing.

"And you told her?"

"Not everything. I told her we found fluids and bruising. She was a virgin, El."

He shook his head sympathetically. "We're still trying to contact the mother."

"I've got a lead on that." Olivia said. "The emergency contact Kate gave me is one of the cabin neighbors. Call them and tell them what's going on, see if they can get in touch with her."

"Will do. We checked out Ethan's father, thinking it might be a familial abduction, but he's got a rock solid alibi."

"It was a good thought. Are there any other suspects?"

"I haven't had time to go and interview her friends. I've been getting background on the Jessups."

"I know, I know, I'm sorry El, but Kate…

"She needs you here, Liv, I get it." Elliot looked nervous. "Bu there's another reason I came. Cragen wants us back at the station. He said there's been a new development, and I'm supposed to pick you up and bring you back."

"You're kidding me. This girl's got nobody to stay with her. What is he comes back and tries again?"

"There's a uniform on her way over for a protection detail. As soon as she gets here, we need to go back to the station."

"I'm not leaving her." Olivia said, crossing her arms resistantly.

"You don't think I understand?" Elliot's eyes were pleading. "Liv, it wasn't a request…"

She finished it for him regretfully, looking wistfully into the room. "…it was an order."


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Olivia was steaming when she returned to the precinct, and didn't even stop by her desk on her way to Cragen's office. Elliot quickly followed, and Olivia knocked insistently on the door. When he opened it, Olivia noticed the three people standing inside. "Captain, what's going on?"

"Come on in. We'll explain it." They stepped silently into the crowded office, and one of the men snapped his cell phone shut and began speaking.

"My name is Supervisory Special Agent Aaron Hotchner, and these are SSAs Derek Morgan and Jennifer Jareau."

"FBI?" Elliot asked. "ATF?"

The blonde woman, Agent Jareau, spoke up. "FBI. We're part of the Behavioral Analysis Unit." She was put-together and professional, and had the cool caring-yet-unattached tone of a well-seasoned law enforcement officer.

Cragen sat down behind his desk, showing that he was still in charge. "These are my detectives on the case, Olivia Benson and Elliot Stabler. Agent Hotchner and I had an interesting conversation last night. Our rape-kidnapping is actually part of a serial spree across the country."

"What?" Olivia eyebrows furrowed, and she glared accusingly at Cragen. "Why haven't we heard about this sooner?"

Hotchner handed them files, and the first page they opened to was a map. "We've had three rape/murder cases in Dallas, San Francisco, and DC. The sons are kidnapped, killed, and abandoned three to five days later."

"But our victim wasn't murdered." Elliot pointed out. "How does it fit in?"

Agent Morgan, tall and imposing, motioned for them to turn the page, to pictures of mutilated bodies. "Was she raped, and stabbed?" The descriptions of the injuries on the pages were eerily similar to Kate's, and Olivia and Elliot began to understand. Morgan continued. "Captain Cragen told us she was attacked in her home, and her little brother was taken." They nodded uneasily.

"But all these other women were murdered, and they were mothers." Elliot said. "And they weren't beaten at all, just stabbed. How do you know this isn't a coincidence?"

But Olivia spotted the key clue. "Elliot, look at where the wounds are…all in the left side, from a right handed attacker. And Ethan looks just like the other boys that were taken."

Agent Hotchner spoke again. "We think that he made a mistake with this family. He thought Ethan was Kate's son, not her little brother. It might be because this is his comfort zone, or maybe he had a personal connection to Kate. You said that you can't get in touch with the mother?"

"Yet." Cragen corrected. "We sent uniforms out to her cabin about an hour ago."

"Good. It's probable that she was taken after Ethan was, but if she's still there she could be our best witness."

"So why did Kate take the brunt of it?" Olivia asked.

"The unsub typically…"

"Unsub?" Elliot interrupted.

"Unknown subject." Hotch replied. "Our unsub typically uses rape as a method of control rather than an act of sadism…In other words, he doesn't do it for the thrill, he does it to subdue his victims. If the unsub targeted Kate specifically, which he hasn't done with his victims previously, then he may have experienced different emotions and interpreted them as a mistake. Because he likes to be in control, he got angry at himself for losing that power and becoming prey to a woman's influence, and then taken that same anger out on Kate."

"And he still took the time to stab her." Elliot said in disbelief.

"It's his signature." Agent Jareau added in quietly. "That's how we know it's him."

"You said he killed the boys?" Olivia asked firmly. "Would that change with Ethan?"

"Everything has changed." Agent Morgan said. "We don't know if he took the mother, or killed her, and that could be the key to determine if his MO is evolving or if he's even sane right now. Until we know more, it's difficult to determine how this will play out for Ethan."

"So how do we catch him?" Cragen asked.

"I take it you're accepting our help?" Hotchner asked, his eyebrows peaking inquisitively.

"Anything to get that little boy back." Olivia said, and Elliot nodded in agreement. "Where do you want to start?"

Hotch looked at his team. "Morgan, you go to the crime scene, and I'll go to the hospital to speak to the victim."

"Kate." Olivia interrupted. "Her name's Kate."

Hotch's eyes softened for a second in understanding and turned back to his team. "I'll speak to Kate. JJ, are you good to stay here to set up and work with the media?"

"Not a problem." She said. "Captain Cragen, can I meet with you for a little while after this?"

"Of course." He responded. "Elliot, you go with Agent Morgan to the crime scene, and Olivia…"

"I'll go see Kate." It was automatic, making the FBI agents wonder exactly what connection Olivia had to the victim. She abruptly strode over to her desk, picking up some papers and breezing by the office door.

"I guess that's my cue." Hotchner muttered politely to the rest of the group, following her out. "It was nice to meet you all."

Morgan turned to Elliot, ready to get started as well. "You know the way to the scene?"

"I'll drive." Elliot responded, pulling keys out of his pocket.

"Then let's go," Morgan responded, opening the door.

Cragen stood. "I'll show you to a conference room you can use. Thank you for coming on such short notice."

Agent Jareau smiled wryly. "It's what we're used to. Sadly, this happens all too frequently."

"The creeps never stop." Cragen agreed, surveying his buzzing offices as he showed her to a small room out of the commotion.

"It's the job." She said, beginning to organize folders on the table. "Someone has to do it." She sighed, her glance lingering on one of the grisliest pictures. "Might as well be us."

* * *

"So tell me about your victim." Hotch said, pulling out of the precinct lot where they had parked.

"Kate Jessup, age 20. She's a junior at NYU, studying business and econ. She has an internship at Tate Finston Life Insurance in the city, in the same building that her mom works in."

"Have you talked to her friends? Family?"

"If you haven't noticed, Agent Hotchner, there's only two of us, and we just got the case yesterday. I spent the night at the hospital with our victim."

He took his sunglasses off, rubbing his brow with one hand. "Forgive me. I haven't gotten much sleep lately either. The other half of our team is split working this case in San Francisco and our home office in DC, and I'm torn between the time zones. And please, call me Hotch. Everyone else does."

"It's alright. I'm really off…there's something about this case. It's like everything in the world that can happen is happening to this poor girl, and we can't do anything but watch it pass."

"A perfect storm." Hotch agreed. "So what do you know? Have you been able to talk to Kate yet?"

"A little bit. She's completely traumatized."

"She has a right to be after what she went through. I'm surprised she's even awake, to tell you the truth."

"She was incredibly lucky." Olivia said, trying to hold in a giant yawn. She barely succeeded. "Physically, at least. Mentally, I'm not so sure."

"She remembers what happened?" Hotch asked, his eyebrows raised.

"Parts. Very small parts. Not enough to be useful."

"It might be enough for a cognitive interview." Olivia yawned again, and Hotch saw it although she tried to hide it behind her hand. "If you need to nap, go ahead."

"Thanks, but we're almost there. What do you mean, a cognitive interview? You're going to make her relive it?" Even as exhausted as she was, the idea of the interview made her rise to Kate's defense.

"She may be able to remember details that her conscious mind doesn't think is relevant."

"She already went through it once, she shouldn't have to live through it again."

"You know as well as anyone that talking about rape and abuse helps victims to come to terms with it." He pulled into the parking lot. The once congenial attitude in the car was quickly turning sour, fueled by lack of sleep on both sides.

"Talking about it is one thing…but reliving it?" She looked disgusted.

"Detective Benson, Morgan has conducted hundreds of them. He knows first-hand the effects of a cognitive interview as well. We'll offer Kate the option not to do it."

"But still…reliving it seems like the worst punishment there is for her right now."

"Somehow, I think Kate will agree to do it." His response wasn't arrogant, but instead sounded a tad regretful.

"And what makes you think that?"

"You would too if your family is at stake."


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

Olivia was still seething as she walked down the corridor to Kate's room, Hotchner following close at her heels, but she cleared her face into a neutral smile as she stepped into the room. The TV was on in the room, turned to a sitcom Olivia had seen ads for, but never watched. The volume was turned so low it was practically impossible to make out what the actors were saying. Kate was sitting up now, leaning against the pillows and staring listlessly at the back wall. Her face was a mask of bruises and bandages, a stark contrast that traveled down her arms as well. Bruises on her arm visibly showed where she had been grasped, four long fingers wrapping around her biceps on both sides. "Hi Kate." Olivia said softly. "How are you doing?"

Kate jumped at the noise, but relaxed again when she saw that it was Olivia. When Agent Hocthner followed Liv in, though, she tensed up again and narrowed her eyes. "I'm okay." She responded, enunciating carefully. Her dark eyes were red and raw from tears, but also. "Who are you?"

Whatever Hotch wasn't expecting, this girl didn't fit it. Olivia saw him hesitate for a moment, but he recovered himself quickly. "Hello. I'm Agent Aaron Hotchner with the FBI." He didn't try to step further into the room, and Olivia was grateful that his supposed profiling skills actually gave him some clue when it came to interacting with victims.

"You're looking for my brother too?" Hope suddenly blossomed across her face, and Hotch was not looking forward to what he needed to tell her.

Olivia took a deep breath and stepped closer. "Kate, there's something we need to tell you."

Her face drained of color and fearful tears started gathering in her eyes. "Oh God." she cried. "He's dead, isn't he. Ethan's dead." Olivia mentally kicked herself, but Hotch interrupted before she could try to fix the damage.

"No, nothing like that. We're still looking for him. There's no new evidence, but that is good news."

"Then what do you want?"

"Kate, the man who did this to you…we believe he's part of three other cases." Kate was still leaking tears, but the emotion on her face was impassable. "Three mothers have been raped and murdered, and their sons kidnapped. Your case is, regrettably, very similar to the others."

"Similar…" She repeated. "Agent Hotchner," she said slowly, trying to calm the hysterics bubbling inside her, "Is my mother dead?" Olivia saw her starting to fall apart.

"Kate, calm down it's okay, She's not dead."

"Why isn't she here?" Kate pleaded. "Where is she? She could be dead. She's not here. Oh god, I want to see her!" Liv listened uselessly, trying to calm her down. Hotch had slipped into the hallway to grab a nurse, who went to Kate and set a hand on her shoulder, trying to get her to lay back. Olivia saw what was going to happen and yelled out, "Don't touch her!" Too late, the nurse's caring hands were thrown off and Kate was out of the bed, scrabbling away from the nurse. Unsteady on her legs and twisted in pain, she slipped on the slick floor and fell. She cowered on the linoleum, curling up around her injured torso and crying incessantly.

The nurse and Hotch reacted simultaneously, gently but forcefully pinning Kate down. She still thrashed wildly, her neck straining as she accidentally slammed her head back. Hotch got his hand underneath it just in time, and winced as it got crushed between her skull and the floor. Olivia stood back helplessly as more nurses ran in and one of them plunged a syringe into her arm. She watched as the pure terror that had overtaken Kate's eyes begin to leak out, replaced by a drugged fear as her body slowly relaxed, trapping her helplessly on the floor.

"What was that?" Hotch asked, straightening his tie and stepping back as nurses gently lifted Kate back into the bed. He gently massaged his hand that had saved her head.

"She's been reactive to contact ever since her attack." Olivia explained, sinking into the chair. "I didn't realize that the doctors weren't aware it."

"Yeah, that would have been nice to know." Hotch responded, a little peeved that the information hadn't been shared with him either. "I'm going to find some ice." He walked out of the door, flexing his hurt hand.

Liv leaned against the wall and watched as a doctor came in and checked over all of Kate's injuries again. New bruises bloomed on her arms where the nurses had held her down, and some of her wounds had bled through the bandages from the stress. Olivia couldn't help but watch as the doctor gently pulled off the stained gauze on Kate's side. The cut looked especially garish criss-crossed with thick black thread and leaking rivulets of blood through the healing shell. She averted her eyes and walked out of the room without another word. Kate was in better hands now, the hands of people who could actually help her instead of hurting.

* * *

Agent Morgan followed Elliot into the cramped hallway, stepping over the evidence markers that littered the floor, still marking the occasional blood drop or fiber. He flicked on the light as they stepped into the small room, and winced. "All of the blood is hers?"

Elliot grimaced. "As far as we can tell." Splatter patterns covered the bed and the wall, landing haphazardly on the alarm clock and a few pictures lined up next to it.

Morgan leaned over the bed, picking up a frame off the wall and examining it. "It got on her diploma." Red dotted the frame, obscuring some of the calligraphy that curled beneath it.

Elliot's attention had been caught by the papers on the desk, letters announcing admission to the dean's list and a request for payment to the university. "Did you know she started college a year early?" He asked over his shoulder.

"Seriously?" Morgan asked, picking up another framed picture.

"Yeah. She's a junior, but she's 20." Elliot said, looking through more papers. He moved to her bookshelf, a mix of textbooks, murder mysteries, and a couple miscellaneous novels. An especially well-used tome caught Elliot's browsing eyes, and he pulled it out of the bookshelf. "The Tipping Point" He read, leafing through the book. "This sounds way too smart for even me to pick up."

"Nah man, that's actually pretty good." Morgan said, grinning. "What do you make of this?" It was the same family photo as he had been holding before. Kate smiled in a dark blue graduation gown, silky honor cords hanging around her neck. Her mother hugged her from one side, and her little brother beamed from the other.

"She was successful." Elliot said, wondering why the profiler was showing it to him. "It's a good family."

"No, look at the blood." Morgan said, pointing to the lower corner. "It's smeared. That's how he found out that Kate wasn't Ethan's mother. He saw the picture."

"So he doesn't know the family…" Elliot said. "He knows Kate. What does that change?"

"Nothing really." Morgan said, scratching his head. "But now we have fingerprints, and we know he definitely wanted Kate. He was sloppy; he didn't do his research like he normally does."

"I don't know." Eliot said. "This feels planned to me. He waited for the right opportunity and waited until the mother was out of town."

"Maybe that was just a coincidence." Morgan ventured. "What if he didn't know the mother existed?"

"You mean he thought that it was just Kate and Ethan? There's a giant family picture in the hallway! How could he have missed that?"

"Think about it this way," Morgan said, peering out into the hallway and playing it in his mind. "Our unsub waits for Kate to open the door, then comes up behind her and drugs her to get into the apartment. Now he's supporting her weight too. He has to drag her through the hallway to get to her room, which he can see through the open door. As he passes the picture, he's consumed with Kate and doesn't see it. He gets her into her room and onto the bed, and ties her up. After he rapes her, he gets excited, maybe takes a minute to calm down before carrying out the rest of the plan."

Elliot could see it unfolding too, a little too clearly, and felt sick to his stomach. "Where's Ethan in all of this?"

"Drugged in his bedroom. Maybe he came to see Kate when she got home. It wouldn't be hard for this unsub to overpower him, he's just a little kid." Morgan walked to the side of the bed, surveying it with the eyes of a predator. He stepped into the unsub's shoes and his hand holds an invisible knife at his side. "While I'm watching her, I look around the room, and notice the picture. I realize what it means, and immediately get angry. I beat her violently, realize what I've done, and pick up the picture for some reason. Maybe I want to apologize, or admire how pretty she once was. Then, even though I don't want to, I stab her in the side."

"How do you know he didn't want to?" Elliot inquired. "The stab wound still looks pretty deep."

"There were hesitation wound around it, and she's not dead. On all of our other victims, it was a clean slash and rip up the side, pretty much gutting them. They bled out in seconds." The cold truth, though reassuring, didn't do anything to assuage Elliot's disgust.

"Are we done here?" He said shortly, walking out of the bedroom. Morgan looked at him curiously, bagged the photo, and followed him out.

He took one last glance behind him as he exited, casting his eyes around the layer of pain over the otherwise peaceful room. "Yeah." He muttered. "I guess we are done."

They went to the boy's room down the hall, which was spotless compared to Kate's. The sheets on his small bed were rumpled, but the room was otherwise undisturbed. The two men towered over the child-sized furniture and felt out-of-place. Morgan carefully looked around, noting the ball cap hung on the bedpost and the green backpack left lazily on the ground. "I think we can say he didn't leave voluntarily." He fingered the bed-side table. "There's something missing here…the dust pattern is off."

Elliot bent down and peered under the bed. "Morgan…" He said, straining to reach something "I think I've found it." He pulled out an empty frame, identical to the one in Kate's room. "What do you want to bet that there used to be a family picture in here?"

"He took the picture when he took Ethan." Morgan said. "He wants to make sure he gets the real mother this time."


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

Olivia stood outside the room, her eyes closed against a throbbing headache. She heard footsteps slowly come to a halt next to her, and popped open one eye. The blonde FBI agent stood in front of her, smiling gently. "Detective Benson?"

"Agent Jareau." Olivia said tiredly, shaking off sleepiness. "Please, call me Olivia. What can I do for you?"

"I go by JJ." She smiled kindly. "I was looking for Hotch."

"He left here about half an hour ago."

"Left the hospital?" JJ asked. "He told me he was here."

"No, just left the room. He went to get some ice for his hand."

"What happened to his hand?" JJ asked, leaning against the wall next to Olivia. Liv launched into the whole story, struggling to keep her eyes open after almost two days without sleep. Halfway through, they migrated into the two chairs in Kate's room, talking and looking at her still body. When Liv finally lapsed into silence with a yawn, JJ looked sideways at the detective. "When was the last time you slept?"

"Monday, I think."

"That long?" JJ asked incredulously.

"I took a nap when Kate was sleeping last night," Olivia said defensively. "I've been working."

"Did you use a bed?" JJ snorted. "You need more than a nap."

"I need to interview Kate's coworkers and friends."

Hotch, who had returned and been standing in the doorway holding an ice pack in his bruised hand, spoke up, surprising both women. "JJ and I can do that. Get some sleep, and we'll report back."

JJ nodded reassuringly. "We do this all the time."

"Alright. I'll stay here. Could you let Elliot know where I am once you get out of here?"

"Absolutely. And we'll call with any updates," JJ said, handing Olivia a blanket off the foot of Kate's bed. Her mothering instincts were as well-honed, and apparently as well-used, as her profiling skills. "Now go sleep. Kate's not going anywhere."

Her words reverberated in Olivia's head. Kate wasn't going anywhere, she realized, she was stuck in a hospital bed. As she drifted off to sleep, she was more determined than ever to catch the bastard that had put her there.

* * *

"I feel bad for Olivia." JJ commented, peering out the window as she drove through the NYU campus. "She's so wrapped up in this case."

"We've had cases where we hadn't slept in a day or two." Hotch responded, still massaging his hand. He hadn't totally forgiven her for forgetting to mention Kate's mental state.

"I think it was a little more than a day or two." JJ said. "You didn't catch that? I'm guessing she hasn't had a full night's sleep in a long time."

"This is it." Hotch pointed out the window. An old brick building towered over them as they pulled up to the curb. JJ slid her sunglasses on against the bright noontime sun.

It was ghostly empty inside as they navigated the hallways, trying to find room 435. "You're sure she lives here?" JJ asked, standing in front of the door.

"The campus said this is summer housing," Hotch shrugged. He knocked on the door, and heard movement in the room. The knob turned and opened to reveal a girl still in her pajamas looking barely half awake.

"Can I help you?" She asked. Her brown hair was pulled into a sloppy bun, and JJ could see past her into the messy room and the unmade bed.

"Um…Erin Hosman?" JJ asked.

"That's me." The girl said tiredly. She pulled a pair of glasses from the desk next to the door. "And you are?" The agents couldn't tell if her sass was natural, or if they had cut into her beauty sleep after a late night.

"Um. FBI. We're here to ask you a few questions about Kate Jessup?"

Immediately, Erin seemed more alert. "Is Kate okay? Is she in trouble?"

"Do you mind if we come in?" JJ asked hesitantly, looking at the messy room.

Erin also looked behind her, then walked out into the hallway and shut the door behind her. "We can talk in the study lounge." She said, leading them down the hallway to a shabbily furnished common room. JJ and Hotch sat down in mismatched desk chairs, and Erin curled up on a futon across from them, pulling her legs close to her chest. "What's going on?"

"Erin, Kate was attacked in her apartment two days ago."

"Oh god," she said, covering her mouth with her hand. "Is she okay? Where is she?"

"She's recovering in a hospital. We can't tell you more than that, she's in protective custody." JJ said. "We were hoping you could answer a few questions. You were the last one Kate texted before the attack."

Erin whipped a smartphone from the pocket of her pajama pants, whipping through menus until she found their conversation. "Yeah, we were talking about our dorm next year. We're roommates."

"Did you guys talk about anything else?" Hotch ventured. "About her work this summer, or her family?"

"Yeah, Kate loves her family. Especially Ethan. She's going through a rough patch with her mom right now, about paying for college and such."

"Are they having money problems?" JJ asked.

"Completely the opposite. Her mom had enough money, but wanted Kate to be independent. Kate stresses about a lot of things when she doesn't need to; she's been really worried about her academic scholarships recently because if she loses even a thousand dollars, she won't be able to afford to come here."

Hotch glanced at JJ. So far, nothing was motive enough for murder. "Is there anyone Kate was having problems with? Any teachers?"

"Not here." Erin said, still scrolling through messages. "Everyone loves Kate. She's really smart, but she'll also tutor people if she has free time."

"What about guys?" JJ asked.

"There have been two or three boyfriends, but they all broke up fairly amiably." Erin said, thinking. "There was one guy, last year. He would always try to get Kate to go to the frat parties with him."

"Not her scene?" JJ pulled out her notepad. It was a stretch, but maybe a lead.

"Kate didn't drink, and wouldn't even go near alcohol. She didn't want to lose her scholarship."

"So what was this man's name?"

"Evan Laertner. He transferred out after last semester though, to Washington or Oregon…I'm not sure which."

JJ flipped the notepad closed, tucking it away. "Thanks Erin." She sighed, standing up. "You've been a big help."

"Hey. Tell Kate to get well soon. I'll text her later." The girl's genuinely concerned face was enough to convince JJ to pass on the message, but she didn't have the heart to tell Erin that Kate's phone was sitting bloody in an evidence bag.

* * *

Half an hour later, JJ and Hotch walked into the lobby at Tate Finston Life Insurance, carefully watching the stream of corporate America going in and out of the ID card readers. One of the security guards led them into the elevator bank and brought them up to the fourteenth floor, pointing them in the direction of Kate's desk. The floor was a maze of tall cubicles, brightly lit by fluorescent lights and the sun streaming in through windows only for those lucky enough to have cubicles by them. Kate's desk was in the center of the labyrinth, and they wound their way over to it.

"No place to hide anything." Hotch noted, opening and closing the filing cabinet. "There's no drawers expect for these, and they're full of paperwork."

"There's nothing personal either, except for the picture." JJ said, pulling down a snapshot of Kate and Ethan from above the desk. They were laughing at a park, sitting next to each other on the swings. It had been taken some time in the past, when Ethan was six or seven. "He's such a cute kid."

"Can I help you?" A voice said from behind them. They turned to find a petite woman peeking out from the cubicle next to them.

"FBI, ma'am." Hotch said. "We were just looking at Kate's desk."

"Oh, I heard. Such a shame, Kate was a brilliant girl. I'm her boss, Beth McMannus."

"How well did you know Kate?" JJ asked, slipping the photo into an evidence bag.

"Well, she's only been here a month, and we don't talk much. Mostly just to update her internal task list. Everyone has high praises for her."

"You sit next to her, but you don't talk to her?"

"She was kept pretty busy, and was a very hard worker. Wasn't one to gossip much. Besides, I travel a lot. If anyone really got to know her, it was her supervisor, Laurie Nelson. Laurie!"

The woman from the cubicle on the other side of Kate's wheeled her chair into the aisle. The middle-aged woman held a mug of coffee in one hand, and tapped a pen on her thigh with the other. A shameless eavesdropper, she had obviously been listening to the whole conversation. "Yeah, I knew Kate pretty well."

"Did she ever mention anyone that she was afraid of, or that was angry with her?"

"Nah." The woman said, taking a sip of coffee. "We mostly talked about work."

Internally, JJ rolled her eyes. This was getting them nowhere. "What did Kate do here? Who did she work with?"

"She went to a lot of meetings, shadowed some of the analysts. You'll have to talk to them."

"Anyone in particular?" JJ probed, trying to extract something useful out of this trip.

"Isaac's on vacation, otherwise I'd tell you to ask him." She motioned to the cubicle facing Kate's and disappeared back into her own.

"This is useless." Hotch murmured, paging through some papers he had found in the files. "Can you get a roster of names and access to her email? I think we're done here."

"I'll get a subpoena." JJ said, already pulling out her cell. Hotch looked around the small cubicle one last time; he had a nagging feeling that he was missing something. There was nothing left to miss, though, and he turned and followed JJ back through the maze.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

Cragen stood in front of the corkboards that held all of the evidence, all of the connections, but he could barely see straight. The squad room was as tired as he was; the occasional clattering keyboard or slamming door would shake it out of its dim stupor before lapsing back into silence. Nothing on the board made sense anymore. No connections, no evidence, no profiles. All he could see was Ethan's picture, smiling back down at him. "Where are you?" He whispered.

His quiet contemplation was punctuated by Morgan and Elliot's return. The men, although tired, were still energetic. Morgan must have been telling a funny story, because they were both chuckling when they walked in. "Hey Captain."

He pulled his eyes away from the photo, looking distractedly at the two men. "What did you find?"

"Where's Hotch?" Morgan answered instead, pulling out his cell phone.

"He should be back soon." Cragen responded, picking up a random file to distract himself.

"We're here." Hotch said, walking in. JJ was talking busily on her phone, gesturing angrily. She looked up apologetically at the group, then walked into an interview room and slammed the door behind her. Through the window, they could see her pacing, a frustrated look wrinkling her face. "She's ironing out some legal issues." Hotch explained. "It doesn't help that no sane person is awake at this hour. So what did you guys get?"

"He was definitely targeting Kate." Morgan said, leaning against a desk. "We found a picture of the family with prints in the blood splatter. We sent them to the lab; hopefully they're good enough to get a match. Also, we know how he found the mother, she had left a note on the kitchen table with the emergency phone number and directions for Kate to get there."

"She practically drew a map for the perp." Elliot said, pulling an evidence bag out of his pocket.

"They just can't catch a break, can they?" Hotch commented, remembering Olivia's earlier observation. "We didn't find anything of consequence, JJ's trying to get a list of people that Kate may have worked with, but the company's citing privacy laws to protect their clients."

Elliot sat down heavily in his chair. "We sent the rape kit to the lab at Quantico, they said that they will get back to us with results in the next day or two."

JJ walked back into the room, clenching her phone in a death grip. "Finally got access to Kate's email. Penelope's working on it."

"Our computer tech back in DC." Morgan explained. "She'll have us a list of names in a couple of minutes." His phone vibrated, and he grinned. "Make that seconds. Hello babygirl." Elliot and Cragen raised their eyebrows. "Hang on, I'll put you on speaker. Detective Stabler and Captain Cragen are here too."

Her sunny voice was out of place in the gloomy attitude that pervaded the room. "Welcome to my lair, fellow crime fighters!" If possible, the officers' eyebrows got even higher. "So, I have your list for you. So far, it looks like Kate's job was to contact just about everyone in the company, which makes my job harder, but I managed to narrow it down a little bit. I emailed you the full list of men that fit the profile, but there's still too many to consider anyone as suspects. I tell you, there's a lot of criminal records in the insurance world."

"They're crooks." Elliot declared laughingly. "Why does that not surprise me?"

"Well, they're mostly alcohol or traffic related, otherwise I'd agree with you." She said. "I'm still working on getting into Kate's text messages, and the company that Kate worked for is slow in getting me security camera footage. I'm on it, though, all cylinders firing."

"Thank you baby girl." Morgan said, his finger hovering over the disconnect button.

"Anytime, my dark knight." After a small click echoed over the phone, Elliot stifled a small laugh, and JJ grinned.

"You should meet her in person someday."

"She's good." Cragen interrupted. "So where does this leave us?"

"Nowhere. We're stuck waiting." Elliot said, pacing the room and trying to stretch out and wake himself up. JJ and Morgan both stifled a yawn at the same time, and grinned.

"We can start going over the suspects." Hotch said, pulling up the email from Garcia on a tablet. He sat down at a round table across from JJ , who was slowly nodding off, but accepted a file nonetheless.

"Agent Jareau, you can sleep in the bunk upstairs if you need to," Cragen offered.

"No thanks, Captain. I just need another cup of coffee and I'll be good."

"That offer goes to you too, Elliot." Cragen said, eyeing his detective with concern.

"I thought I would go update Liv at the hospital…" The rest of his sentence was lost in a huge yawn. "On second thought…"

Morgan stood up. "I can go see her. I'd like to interview Kate in the morning anyways. The longer we wait, then harder it will be for her."

"Good, it's settled." Cragen said. "Elliot, go grab a couple of hours of sleep. We'll go over the suspects, and figure out where to go from here."

Morgan walked out of the squad room, grabbing the keys to the SUV from Hotch. He stopped when he heard Elliot's voice behind him. "Agent Morgan?"

"Yeah man?"

"There's a 24-hour café on the corner. Liv likes cream, no sugar."

"You got it. I'll see you all later." He smiled and loped out the door as Elliot climbed the stairs to the bunk room, tripping over his own feet. But despite his complete and total exhaustion, Elliot's mind was filled with images of Ethan in captivity, gruesome scenarios that kept him tossing and turning until morning.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

Olivia was sleeping when Morgan got to the hospital. He eased open the door set the steaming cup of coffee on the ground next to her chair. Her mouth hung open, and she had flung her body over the two chairs in a way that didn't look very comfortable. Despite the comedic expression on her face, Morgan decided that the detective was still fairly attractive. He shrugged, sliding down to sit against the wall and closing his own eyes. Just to rest a bit…just a couple of minutes…and then the next thing he knew, Olivia was gently waking him up.

"Agent Morgan." She whispered, tapping his shoulder. He blinked into awareness, out of his element for a second before realizing where he was.

"Sorry." He said, sitting up. Olivia held a finger to her lips and motioned towards the door. Morgan nodded shortly, getting up and stretching his aching back before following her outside. "Would you like some coffee?" Morgan asked, holding up the room-temperature cup.

"Thanks for the thought, but I like mine scalding." Olivia said. "What time did you get here?"

"A little after one this morning." His back cracked loudly, a feeling that was both heavenly and extremely unnatural. He stretched his broad shoulders, attempting to straighten it out. Checking his watch, he saw that it was six AM. "I shouldn't have fallen asleep."

"It's okay. That's the first time I've slept in days." They began walking down the hallway side by side, checking that there was still an officer posted outside Kate's door.

"No, I mean I shouldn't have slept on the ground. It did something to my back."

Olivia smiled sympathetically. "So what are you doing here? I thought Elliot was going to come."

"Cragen kept him back, sent him to the bunk room. Elliot was almost falling asleep at his desk. I need to interview Kate anyways."

"Hm. The cognitive interview." Her face instantly turned suspicious.

"You don't approve?"

She thought for a moment. "My partner said something two days ago…the doctor had commented that it might be better for her if she didn't remember what happened, and Elliot responded that it would be better for her if she did, so we could catch her attacker."

"And you're not so sure?"

Olivia took a deep breath. She gazed at her shoes, down the hallway, anywhere but the man she was talking to. "I don't know what it's like not knowing…but I know what it is like to remember. To see everything that happened, every night for a year, to wake up drenched in sweat. I wouldn't wish that on anybody."

"Except the man who did it to you?" Morgan asked cautiously.

"Exactly." They reached the coffee bar in the hospital cafeteria, and ordered larges. Olivia fiddled with the stir stick, inhaling the warm aroma, but not actually drinking any coffee. They sat down at a small table in the corner of the high-ceilinged room.

Morgan stared into his coffee too. "It's not easy to live through it again, but I've done hundreds of interviews. They almost always bring up something that we missed in the walk-throughs or evidence that we may not have thought of checking."

"Hotchner said you have personal experience with them as well. I assume that means you've been the subject of an interview?" Olivia chided herself for pressing, but Morgan didn't seem resistant.

"It was a cold case in Chicago. One of the men I had grown up with was a suspect. JJ gave me cognitive interview to try and remember details."

"And did it work?"

He sat silently, risking a sip of the steaming coffee before he spoke again. His voice was hard, hurt in ways far beyond the liquid burn. "No. I walked out before we finished." His eyes, downcast, challenged her to ask.

"What happened?"

"The suspect, Carl Buford, ran a youth outreach center by my house when I was a kid. He sexually abused some of the boys who went through the program." Her face was blank; this was not the first time Olivia had seen it, but there was always something different about the situation when it was someone you knew. Morgan continued talking, fire rekindling in his eyes. "The head police chief had suspected me of some murders, and that's when the team went to Chicago the first time. We got called back last year for a string of murders, and profiled that he was one of Buford's victims too. That's when JJ interviewed me…and I guess I just wasn't ready to bring that all back up."

Olivia felt like she owed him something for his candidness. "What I had been talking about before…I was undercover."

"Olivia, you don't have to do this." Morgan said, not wanting her to feel pressured.

"I know. It's just…you've been there." He nodded, waiting for her to continue. "Anyways. I was undercover in Sealview Women's Prison, and one of the guards got me away from the cameras. I still have nightmares about it."

"When did it happen?" Morgan asked.

"Almost five years ago now." Five years, and still, it was hardly possible for her to even say his name.

"It doesn't go away. You may come to terms with it, but it doesn't ever leave you completely. Did you catch him?"

"He's in Rikers. And Buford?"

Morgan's eyes glinted triumphantly, yet a bit of residual guilt flashed across his face. "He was murdered in prison. Child rapists don't last long in the Muslim brotherhood."

Olivia remembered how they had got on this unpleasant subject, and her curiosity burned even more deeply with the new information. "How do you still do the interviews? You've been there, and you know how…hard it is for victims to relive it."

He looked troubled. "It's something I fight with each and every time. But at the end of the day, I just remember how I felt when Buford was convicted, and when he was killed. You can put the past behind you, eventually. It will always haunt you, but at least there's some closure."

"And it might not even work on Kate, if she was drugged." Liv seemed resigned to the fact.

"Exactly. Although we might be able to get more details about how the unsub met her, or if he left anything."

"So what do you need to do? When is this happening?"

"As soon as Kate is awake?" Morgan looked at his watch. "The sooner it's done, the sooner we can find her family."

"And the sooner she can put this all behind her." Olivia added, sipping her coffee. The two agents stood up from the table and returned to Kate's room, trepidation boiling in their stomachs. Neither one of them was looking forward to the next couple of hours, but as usual, there was nothing else they could do.

* * *

"Think back to that afternoon." Morgan had pulled a chair close to the oversized hospital bed and was leaning towards Kate, whose eyes were closed tight. "You were walking out of work. What's it like outside?"

"The sun out, it's really hot." Kate said slowly. "I needed to put on my sunglasses."

"Good. So you start walking down the street. Is it busy?"

"It's rush hour, traffic's almost at a standstill. There's a lot of horns, but I had my headphones in."

Olivia watched them with interest; it was like they were in their own little world, standing on the street together. Morgan glanced up at her, and she nodded mutely for him to continue. "Now, do you see anyone you know?"

"Not really. Beth and Isaac took the elevator down with me, but I didn't see where they went."

"So you're walking and listening to your music. What song is playing?"

"I don't really remember. I think it's something by Imagine Dragons." Her face crinkled, trying to recall details.

"That's okay. Let's keep walking." Suddenly, Kate froze her hands clutching the sheets at her side. "What? What do you see?"

"I just, I can't remember…I was walking, and then….it's just blank."

"It's okay, calm down. What is the last thing you remember? Did you pass a familiar building?"

"Um, there was…a hot dog vendor. He's always on the same corner."

"What corner, Kate?" Morgan asked urgently. "Describe him."

"He's Hispanic. Short, older…he's got a dirty white t-shirt, and…and jeans. I don't know what corner. I'm sorry, I don't remember."

Morgan leaned back. "You did good, Kate. Good job." She opened her eye and he gently patted her forearm. Olivia saw Kate flinch, but she didn't explode like other times. Morgan pulled his hand back and didn't comment.

Kate smiled a little bit, the first time that Olivia had seen it. "Did I do okay?"

"You did great, sweetheart." Olivia said, leaning against the bed. "We'll be able to find that vendor if he's always son the same corner. "

Morgan had stepped out of the room to update their team, and Kate spoke again. "I'm not as jumpy."

"I noticed." Olivia said gently, cautiously covering Kate's hand with her own. She didn't pull away. "That's a good sign."

"I still…I still get nightmares, though. I can't sleep."

"We could get you something to help you sleep, Kate. The doctors, the nurses here, we're all here for you."

"I know. I just feel like I always need to be looking over my shoulder." Liv nodded and looked at the young girl, who had leaned back into the pillows that were propping her up and closed her eyes. "Olivia?" She asked, a tear dripping down her cheek. "Please stay with me."

"Of course, Kate. I'm right here."

Morgan poked his head back into the room, a confused look on his face. "Cragen wants you to call him…he sounded a little peeved, to tell you the truth."

"Who's Cragen?" Kate interrupted.

"He's my captain." Olivia sighed. "I have to take this, are you going to be okay on your own?" Kate nodded, but Morgan sank into a chair.

"I'll stay with her. I don't need to be back for an hour."

"Thanks." The women said at the same time. Kate shrugged, and Olivia smiled at her comfortingly as she whisked out the door.

* * *

"Captain, what are you talking about? Kate needs me here."

"I cannot have one of my best detectives playing babysitter." He sounded exhausted, and for clear reason, but Liv was still annoyed that he had even brought up the subject. "We don't have enough manpower on this case, especially with Finn and Munch gone. I need you back."

"The FBI is there, why don't you use them?" Her flippant answer escaped before she could swallow it, and immediately, regret filled her body.

"Detective Benson." His sudden formality was as authoritative as it had been intended to be.

"Yes Captain?" Olivia asked.

"I need you to come back to the office and work the case. There is a protective detail on her 24/7 that is perfectly capable of protecting her in your absence."

"She's a victim, captain. She doesn't feel safe if I'm not there. Her family is missing…"

"Unconfirmed."

Liv ignored him, speaking with greater urgency. "Her family is missing, she has no one she knows to help her through this." She heard a heavy sigh, and could picture him pacing in his office. "I can still work, just get me a laptop and I can go through financials, or text messages or something." Liv peered through the door to see Agent Morgan and Kate deep in conversation, and stepped further into the hallway. "I can come back and update you at the station, and accompany the FBI to interviews if need be. But right now, I need to be here. Kate specifically asked that I stay."

From the long pause that followed, Olivia guessed that her speech had persuaded him, and she was right. "I'll get you that laptop." Cragen said, and he hung up. She listened to blank air for a second, then snapped her phone shut, guilt nagging in the back of her brain.

"Olivia? Is everything okay?" Morgan's eyebrows were gathered into worried peaks.

"Captain Cragen was concerned that I was wasting resources by staying with her. Our other two detectives are at a sex crime conference in Nebraska."

"Hey, I spoke there last year." Olivia didn't respond, but just looked at him tiredly. "You're right, it doesn't matter. So you have to go back to the station?"

"I convinced him to let me work from here."

"Age of technology." Morgan sighed. "I have to go talk to hot dog vendors."

Olivia snorted. "I wouldn't eat any, if I were you."

"Nah, I'm not big on eating witnesses. NYPD detectives are a tastier, though." He winked, and Olivia smiled despite the outright flirting. "I'll see you later, Olivia. Take it easy."

"You too, Morgan. Hey…" Morgan turned as he was walking out the door, stopping at the threshold. "If you need anything, need to talk or anything, just call. I…I've…"

"You've been there. Thanks, Liv. And just so you know, same to you. You've got my number."

"Alright."

"Alright." They looked at each other for a moment more of uncomfortable recognizance, and Morgan walked down the hallway as Olivia returned to Kate's bedside, wondering if she made the right decision.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

Kate picked idly at tape that crossed a cut on her cheek. She watched Olivia typing furiously on the computer, engrossed in whatever scrolled across her screen. "Olivia?"

Liv snapped out of her trance immediately. "What's up?"

"When can I get out of here?"

"Kate, this is the safest place for you right now. You need to get better, and we still don't know if your attacker's going to come back and try again." She walked over the bed, sitting down on the edge.

"He has my mom and brother. He doesn't have time to come back for me." The defiant, yet sad expression on her face didn't falter when she spoke of her family.

"What if he has a partner?" Olivia asked. It wasn't something she necessarily wanted in the young girl's mind, but she had nothing else to argue. "Why do you want to leave?"

Kate frowned, looking at her useless hands. One was bandaged, the other tethered to an IV. "Hospitals. They just bring up bad memories. Besides, there's nothing to do." If Olivia didn't know better, the only thing she heard would have been a whiny collegiate, but she could sense the deep grief in the girl's voice.

"Well, I'm sure I can find something—" She started, hoping to give her some kind of solace.

"I just want to go home." Kate cut her off. "I need to be home."

"Your house is still a crime scene, Kate." Olivia said bluntly. "I couldn't let you go back there even if I wanted to."

"Anywhere would be better than here."

"Kate, I understand how you feel." Olivia started, holding her hands up in front of her. "But you can't leave the hospital just yet. Your body still isn't healed, and you're in danger."

Kate cut her off again, quickly losing her temper. "Olivia, I'm so sick of being here. I can't stand it." There was an icy steadiness freezing her voice, but Olivia matched her tone word for word.

"I can't let you, and the doctors definitely won't let you."

Kate swung her legs over the side of the bed, untangling herself from her sheets and sitting up. "I can walk." She sneered. "I'll just get myself released. You can't keep me here."

Liv stood up as Kate jiggled the IV needle out of her arm, dropping it on the bed behind her. "Kate, stay in bed. They're not going to release you."

Kate wobbled as she stood up, grasping the end of the bed for support. Her hospital gown fluttered loosely, but she ignored it and tried to get past Olivia in her bare feet. "They have to if I tell them to."

"They can't if I tell them not to. I can take temporary guardianship and argue you're not in your right mind." Olivia said catching Kate's upper arm tightly in a spurt of temper. "You need to stay here."

"Why?" Kate pleaded, tears beginning to fall down her face. "Liv, please, let me go. I just want to leave. I can't sleep here, I just keep remembering." She started fighting, clawing and scratching at Olivia's grip on her, but the struggle was weak and altogether ineffective. One of her steps faltered, but Olivia caught her, pulling her into a half-hug and leading her back to the bed. She sat down next to her, holding her and stroking her trembling back.

"Hey, Shh. It's okay, Kate. Look at me, Look at me." Kate stared into her eyes, and Olivia pulled back so she could see her face. "I'll try to get you out of here. But for now, right now, you need to stay here. Okay?"

Kate curled up on the bed, turning away from Olivia and exposing her back, the only part of her body that wasn't embossed with deep purple bruises. Her back started shaking, and Olivia could see that she was weeping silently. "Liv, I can't do it. I need my family. Ethan…" She hiccupped. "Ethan is just a kid. He has his whole life ahead of him. I mean…god, he's ten. I can't do it, I just can't." She was panting hysterically, gasping in between phrases.

"Shh." Olivia comforted, struck from words. "We'll find him. Kate, we're looking for him right now."

"You're not doing much." The words, said in anger, hurt Liv more than she expected. "I'm sorry." Kate said, drying her tears. "I didn't mean it. I asked you to stay here with me, and you did. Sorry."

"No, it's okay. I know you're upset."

"I'm just so worried about them." Kate murmured, looking shamefully into her lap. "I didn't mean to yell."

"Kate…I can do more to find Ethan and your mom from the station. I know you said you wanted me to stay here, but…"

"No, you're right. You go."

"There's an officer posted outside your door, and nurses on call just down the hallway. I'll give you my cell number…" She scribbled it on her notepad, ripping the sheet off and handing it to Kate, who folded it into a neat square. "Now, I want you to sleep. Talk to the nurses, see if you can take something. I'll come back and check in on you. Call me if you need anything. I mean it. This is a lot for anyone to go through."

"I'll be okay, Liv. Just…find my family. Please."

"I'll try my best." She said, gathering her papers and bag. Kate chuckled sadly. "What?" Liv asked, confused.

"You just reminded me of my dad. He used to tell me that instead of just trying my best, I should try to make my best better."

"It's good advice." Olivia said, pausing before she left.

"He always expected a lot of us, even when I was just a kid. He coached my soccer team growing up, and the two of us would always have extra practices during the weekends. During the school year, he would help me with my homework and try to keep me ahead of the class. I knew my multiplication tables before anyone else in the third grade."

"He sounds like a great guy." Olivia said sympathetically. "You must miss him."

"Everyday." Kate sighed. She looked up, and her eyes were determined. "You need to find my mom, Liv. I don't know what I'd do if…"

"I'm on it." Olivia interrupted gently. "I'll see you soon."

* * *

"Liv!" Cragen said, surprised. "I thought you were staying with Kate."

"She agreed that I should be looking for her family instead of staying with her."

"How's she doing?" Hotch asked. He was leaning against a desk against the wall, reading through a stack of files. Morgan handed him another one, pointing out a line of text.

"Under the circumstances, pretty well." Olivia said, slinging her bag beneath her desk and sitting down in the desk chair. "Where are we at?" Elliot walked into the room with JJ, flashing Olivia a quick smile.

Hotch walked to the front of the group, looking at the corkboards that had been set up and covered in pictures, reports, and handwritten notes. "JJ and I checked out her school and work, and there's no obvious suspects. Apparently, Kate didn't have enemies."

"I have the work roster." JJ added, handing out a list of names. "I just…this feels personal, but Kate has long-standing ties in every other aspect of her life…so why now?"

"If it's someone from Tate Finston, that would explain it, because she just met everyone less than a month ago. But from what I've heard, Kate isn't especially close to anyone there." Olivia said.

"I don't think the criminal records would actually be that much help." Hotch said. "Our unsub is organized; he has control. The one time he lost it was with Kate. With the time it takes to stalk his victims, he's probably not married."

JJ smirked. "Not with his job. These guys travel more than we do."

Hotch looked up, a cautious spark in his dark eyes. "What did you say?"

"Not with his job?" JJ repeated.

"No. You said he traveled…" Hotch pulled out a map, and the other team members gathered around the table, silently waiting for him to speak again. "The random dates, and places…" Hotch started, tracing routes with his finger. "They're all weekdays, never weekends, in cities with major corporate and business presence. What if he's going on business meetings?"

"And killing his associates?" Morgan suggested, rifling through files. He arranged the first three victims pictures and files on the table. "Tate Finston sells insurance, correct? See here…One works in human resources for a large architecture firm…Our second victim was VP of a smaller company, a law firm. And Kleymer, the third victim in Dallas…she was a secretary. She would've communicated directly with our unsub. We didn't make the connections because the companies were so varied. We didn't even look at what they were working on."

JJ was already on the phone with Garcia. "Find out who from Kate's team was in Dallas, San Francisco, and DC when the murders were committed...good. I'll put you on speaker."

"I've got a name." Garcia said excitedly. "Isaac Slater."

"Isaac Slater?" Olivia asked. "Kate mentioned him. Said he helped her understand insurance when she first got there. He spent some extra time teaching her what all went down, but that he'd been really busy lately with clients."

"I'll be he enjoyed that extra time with her." Elliot muttered angrily.

Garcia kept spurting out information as she found it. "Slater bought tickets to each of the cities, and it looks like Tate Finston is insuring each of the three companies that our victims worked for. Isaac is a sales specialist."

"Where is he now, Garcia?" Hotch asked, finding his name on the roster.

"I don't know. I'll get the carrier to track his cell."

"He doesn't have a record." Morgan said, skimming the list as well. "I doubt his prints are in the system."

"I'll have the techs run his name anyways." Garcia said. "I've already got a BOLO out on him and a flag on his passport.

"Nice work. " Cragen said. "Olivia, why don't you take Agent Jareau and go back to Tate Finston? WE'll have someone else go to check his house." The two women turned to walk out of the room, but Garcia interrupted again.

"Sir, I've got something else. I was digging through Slater's work laptop…he's been tracking Kate's computer. Everything she types, emails, or searches…he sees. He put a virus in her computer the second day that she was working there."

"Prick was stalking her," Elliot said. "But she didn't know?"

Morgan rubbed his head, trying to figure it out. "What if he knew it was wrong…Kate said he was busy, that he was taking a lot of cases, but what if he just didn't want to spend time with her?"

"He finally finds the perfect victim, but he loves her so much that he doesn't want to kill her?" Hotch said, looking at Morgan disbelievingly.

"Exactly. He has a conscience." Morgan said.

"A twisted conscience." Garcia piped up.

"Garcia, what's his home address?" Hotch asked.

"I sent it to your phone, sir. I'll call you back once I find him. I'm out." She left the conversation with a small beep as Hotch began collecting the papers he had spread over the table.

"Thanks. I'll go to check out the house," he said. "Stabler? Morgan?" Elliot nodded, but Morgan didn't.

"I'm going to the hospital to talk to Kate again, see what she can tell me about Slater." He pulled himself wearily out of the chair, grabbing the proffered SUV keys from Hotch

"Good. We'll meet you back here in three hours." Morgan acknowledged him with a nod, and they split ways, chasing after one more disgusting unsub to add to their convicted collection.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

Morgan knocked lightly on the threshold. "Hey Kate. How are you doing?"

"I've had better days." Kate admitted. "Where's Olivia?"

"She's following up a lead." Morgan said, dragging the chair closer to Kate's bed. "I wanted to ask you a few questions."

"Another interview?" She eyed him suspiciously. "I don't want to do that again."

"No, just questions. About where you work."

"Alright. What do you want to know?"

"Did anyone pay special attention to you? Come by your desk a lot, for things that seemed unimportant? Anyone take you out for lunch?"

"I was a novelty the first week I got there," she chuckled, "The department had never hired an intern, so there were a bunch of people willing to help me, but it was pretty early, so I don't remember a lot of names."

"Is there anyone specific?" Morgan pressed. "Did you ever get the feeling that anyone was paying too much attention to you?"

"Isaac Slater. He's one of the specialists in our section; he sat behind me." Her face paled. "Do you think he did it?"

"We don't know. Can you tell me more about him?"

"Isaac was really helpful the first couple of weeks that I was here. He would take me to his meetings early to explain what they would be talking about, he helped me set up my computer and all the accounts, and he always thanked when I helped him, even if it was just a copy job he needed me to run." She looked hurt, and a bit confused. "But he hasn't been around much nearly as frequently as he was at first. He's been pretty busy with clients, and I've gotten busier too, so he doesn't invite me to go with him to the meetings anymore." Her voice was quiet and reserved.

"Kate, has he ever said or done anything that made you uncomfortable?"

"Not really. I mean, it was weird the first week, but I realized he's just friendly. My boss, Beth, she told me that Isaac volunteered at his church and spent a lot of time with his brother's family. I mean, it's kind of strange that he's still single…not that I would go for him, he's way too old…but I guess he is pretty involved in work. He's always there late, after everyone else has gone home." She yawned, and Morgan flipped his notebook shut and stood up.

"That's great, Thanks Kate. I'll let you rest now."

"So you really think he has them?" She asked, snuggling below the blankets.

"It looks that way." He hesitated. "Kate, he's been watching your computer."

"What do you mean?" She sat up again.

"He put a virus in your computer that tracks everything you do, and he probably knows all your passwords if he helped you set up your accounts. Do you remember that we told you that your case was part of a serial spree?"

She nodded. "That was him?"

"In all three cities that the murders occurred in, he was on business meetings. The victims were all contacts of his at the companies he was selling to."

"Oh my God." Her eyes were wide. "I didn't know…I mean…"

"None of this is your fault, Kate. He's obsessive, and you couldn't have stopped him if you tried. He's managed to keep it a secret from people he's worked with a lot longer than you."

"I know. It's just…I had no idea." Her voice was hollow and absolutely tiny.

"Do you want me to stay?" Morgan asked. "I mean, there is an officer outside the door, but if you feel safer with me here…"

"No, no, it's fine. You should go. Like I told Olivia, you need to find my family."

"We'll find them, Kate. They're going to be okay."

"I just want them here." Kate said, laying down again. "I'd give anything."

"I'm on it." He said, throwing a mock salute. "I'll see you later. Get some rest." She smiled at his antics and closed her eyes, but she was far from sleep. Her thoughts were caught in a messy web of fear that kept her up for hours.

* * *

Slater's house was a long drive out of the city, almost an hour. The ride was mostly quiet, but sprinkled with polite chit chat every couple of minutes. By the time they got to the gated suburban neighborhood, it was noon, and the sun was hung high and heavy in the sky above them. Slater's house was average-sized, but fairly extravagant for a single man with no family. The lawn was freshly mowed, and a road bike leaned against the side of the one-car garage.

"The car's gone." Elliot said, peering in a high garage window.

"JJ just texted me; he's not at work either." They walked up the cobblestone path and pounded on the door. "Isaac Slater! Open up!" Hotch looked through the windows to the side door and waited, but no one came. Hotch took out the key he had gotten from the security guard and tried it, but it didn't fit.

"He changed the locks?" Elliot asked.

"I guess so." Hotch said, slipping the key back into his pocket.

Elliot smiled somewhat eagerly. "Knock in the door?"

"Be my guest."

In one thrust, the door swung inward, and Elliot cursed, rubbing his shoulder. "Man, he had two deadbolts. Ow." Hotch was already further into the house, snapping on his gloves and examining random objects intently. Elliot watched him and looked around himself. The rooms were well furnished, but didn't look lived in. Pillows were arranged carefully on the couch, and a layer of dust coated the books on the coffee table. "So, what are we looking for?" He asked, following Hotchner into the kitchen, which actually showed signs of habitation. A bowl of slightly overripe bananas sat on the counter, and a mug sat in the sink, dregs of coffee still in the bottom.

"Anything that will help us find Kate. Unsubs have what we call comfort zones. Specific areas where he feels safe from discovery."

"So this guy's comfort zone is the size of the entire country?"

"He stayed in the business districts of the cities he was otherwise unfamiliar with. We're still not sure where he held the boys for days; possibly at his hotel."

"Are you saying that they could be here?"

"It's highly doubtful; he probably wouldn't want to risk it. He's smart, and organized. Even though he covered his tracks well, he would have had a back-up plan in place."

They walked back to a home office in the back of the house. "This is the only picture I've seen so far." Elliot said, stopping and pulling a frame off the wall. The picture inside was Slater and two kids, probably his niece and nephew. "And this guy kidnapped a little boy. Ethan's barely older than the kid in this picture."

"That may be why he started taking kids." Hotch posited. "Maybe something happened to the boy in that picture, and he's trying to protect the other boys."

Elliot shook his head. "That's sick." He turned to a thick leather photo album on the desk, but looked away in disgust. "And this is worse." They were pictures of the other boys, both alive and dead.

"No shots of the mothers." Hotch noted. "They're part of his fantasy, but he doesn't want to acknowledge them; he probably feels some kind of remorse after killing them."

"So he does have a heart."

"We said that before, this only confirms it. He actually thinks he's doing the right thing."

"Until Kate…"

"I think with Kate he realized she was completely uninvolved, and that he had hurt her for no reason."

"So he hurt her more?" Elliot asked.

"These men…they aren't rational at all. Sometimes there's no way to tell what's going through their heads unless they tell you." Hotch pulled some papers out of the recycle bin and leafed through them. "It looks like he's fairly well-off financially. His mortgage was paid off last month."

"Hm." Elliot snorted. "Wish mine was." He too grabbed some of the papers, skimming their contents. "Man, he's got a boat. I want a boat."

Hotch read over Elliot's shoulder. "In a private marina. Does our warrant cover personal property?"

"Absolutely. You think that's where he's holding the family?"

"It's about as private as you can get." Hotch said, pulling out his cell phone. "I'll call JJ and Morgan, tell them to meet us there."


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

"Hotch and Elliot think they found where Slater's keeping them" JJ murmured to Olivia. They were at Kate's office, talking to her boss again. The woman was slightly ditzy, and Olivia had a hard time believing she had gotten where she was without a little help.

"You think Isaac would do something like this?" McMannus asked, her eyes shocked and mouth wide open.

"There's good evidence to suggest it." JJ said curtly. "Thank you for your time. We won't keep you any longer." The two walked off, and McMannus immediately started typing furiously.

"She's probably alerting the whole building that their beloved associate is also a murderer." Olivia snorted, shaking her head. "So where's Slater?"

"He's got a private marina in Gravesend Bay." JJ pulled out her cell phone. "Garcia? Have you traced Slater's cell?"

"It's turned off. His last call was from Tate Finston two days ago, but that's as much as I have. Nothing on the BOLO either, and no credit card transactions, although he withdrew $600 in cash two days ago."

"Thanks Garcia." JJ said, hanging up. As Olivia drove towards the marina, JJ filled her in. "They found papers at Slater's house, and a photo album of the boys he kidnapped. Garcia can't trace his cell, but the marina is the only place we haven't checked. He doesn't have any other property in his name. Hotch, Elliot, and Morgan are going to meet us there."

"So what are their chances?" Olivia asked, not quite wanting to hear the answer.

"Pretty good, I think. He's varying from his original timeline, keeping them longer. We usually would have found the bodies by now. But if anything happens…he's devolving, not in his right mind. We can't tell what he'll do. You saw what happened to Kate. It could be…"

"We're here." Olivia interrupted purposefully. She didn't want to hear possible outcomes. The men were already there, sliding on their bulletproof vests, and Olivia grabbed hers out of the back, strapping it on as well.

"Medics are on standby." Elliot said, checking his gun. "Everybody ready? Soft approach and entry."

He led the team, followed by Hotch and JJ with Morgan and Olivia bringing up the rear. They had already opened the gate, and they quickly prowled onto the pier, lining up around the door of an expansive boat, almost a yacht. Elliot nodded, and Hotch quickly threw open the door for him to enter. They started down the stairs, and Morgan and JJ went up to the deck and into the cabin. Olivia followed the men down, and stopped short on the narrow staircase. They were huddled around a door, struggling to hear what was going on inside. Liv could hear soft whimpers, but nothing more. "On three." Hotch whispered, and they nodded. "One…two…three." He forced the door open, covering the small room with his gun.

Alisa Casey was lying on a narrow bed, her underwear and pants discarded on the floor. Olivia edged in between Hotch and Elliot, taking stock of the woman's bruises and bedraggled appearance. "Get the medics in here." She commanded, slowly kneeling next to the bed. "Hey, hey. You're okay. Can you tell me where Ethan is?" Alisa whispered something, but Olivia didn't understand. "What? Alisa, honey, you're safe. Tell me where Ethan is."

"He took him…" She rasped, tears leaking freely down her cheeks. "Told us…Kate was dead…"

"No, no, that's not true. Kate's in the hospital, but she's fine. Stay with me, Alisa." A female paramedic fit herself into the cabin too, and Olivia stepped out to give her room.

"Get me the blanket and stretcher," she said, shielding Alisa with her body. "We need to get her out; I don't like the look of those bruises."

"Can I ride with?" Olivia asked, jogging next to the stretcher.

"As long as you stay out of the way."

Liv nodded, and climbed in, shrinking against the wall. "Any knife wounds?"

"Not that I can see." The medic responded, lifting her arms. "No external blood that I can see, other than a bit between her legs, but that looks older."

"How much older?"

"Detective, you need to let me do my job." Olivia nodded, backing of, and the medic began probing Alisa's stomach. "Ma'am, can you tell me if anything hurts right now?"

"Hurts." She croaked. "My ribs."

"Alright. You probably have a couple of broken ribs. Are you allergic to any medication?" She shook her head. "Good. We're going to give you some morphine, alright?"

"Wait!" Olivia cried, holding back the medic's arm. "This guy's MO is to drug his victims with morphine, you give her an overdose."

"Detective, does she look like she's in pain to you?" Alisa's eyes were shut tightly, and her hands were clenched into fists. She still whimpered, and cried out each time the ambulance went over a bump.

"Yes, I'd say that's fairly obvious."

"Then it's a safe bet she wasn't given any morphine." With that, the medic pushed the needle into her bruised arm and depressed the plunger.

* * *

Elliot, JJ, Hotch, and Morgan stood on the dock as techs processed the boat. "Where would he go?" JJ asked, looking at a map of the city. "He doesn't have anywhere left."

"When we first got in, Alisa said that Slater told her Kate was dead. Does he know she's alive?" Elliot asked.

"Jayje, what did you say in your press conference?"

"Only that we were looking for a suspect in her assault. He probably saw it and figured out she wasn't dead."

"We profiled that this was about Kate, right? Wouldn't he try to find her?" Hotch said, slipping on a pair of sunglasses.

"How, though? We don't have her listed in the hospital database, and we didn't say anything about where she was to the press," Elliot pointed out. "Could he have followed one of us to the hospital?"

"He didn't have time for that." Morgan said. "He had to control a woman and a ten-year-old boy on a boat. Even though it's private, there's enough public access from the water that he would have had to be careful 24/7."

"There are half-dozen hospitals she could be at. He wouldn't risk taking him everywhere to look." Elliot .

"We have to consider the possibility that he killed Ethan." Morgan countered, a sobering thought. "Why would he risk taking him everywhere?"

Hotch considered it, but shook his head. "He cares too much about Ethan. So far, it seems like he's spent a lot of time on the boys. This situation, when he's panicking and nervous, he wouldn't want to waste the experience."

JJ had been quietly thinking, but suddenly her face paled. "Hotch, we left messages on Alisa's cell. We must have told her what hospital Kate was in."

"And Slater listened in." Hotch closed his eyes, inhaling sharply, and they looked at each other guiltily. "We need to leave now. There's nothing to say he won't kill Kate, he has already tried once." They climbed into one of the SUVs, and roared away.

"We're racing Slater, and we're going to lose. Especially in rush hour, and Slater's got at least an hour head start." Elliot said.

"Olivia won't." Morgan said, pulling out his cell phone. "The ambulance left almost forty-five minutes ago. They're going to the same hospital. She's got to be there by now, and Slater didn't have sirens. Maybe he's not there yet." He dialed, and they all held their breath. "Pick up." Morgan muttered. "Come on, pick up the phone. Answer it." The phone rang once, then twice, then three times…and no one was picking up.


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

On the fifth ring, Olivia answered. Everyone in the car let out a breath they had been holding. "Olivia! Listen closely. Are you in the hospital?"

"We just got here." Olivia responded. "I'm with Alisa in the ER. What's going on?"

"We think Slater's after coming after Kate. Get someone to stay on the mom, you need to get up to Kate's room." Morgan explained quickly.

"Im on it." Olivia said, already hanging up and running to the stairs. She paused, explaining to a security guard what was happening. Immediately, he started speaking into his radio and went to Alisa's bedside, pulling the curtains around her. Olivia waited impatiently for the elevator, but gave up and began sprinting up the stairs. She held her hand ready at her side as she stepped out panting on the sixth floor. She walked slowly around the corner, and let out the breath she had been holding when she saw the officer still posted outside the room. Suddenly, she saw a flash of blonde hair out of the corner of her eye. "Ethan?" The boy looked up at the sound of his name, and she dragged him out of sight behind the nurses desk, kneeling down in front of him. "Ethan, my name's Olivia. I'm a police officer. Are you hurt at all?"

"No. He hurt my mom, but didn't touch me."

"Do you know where he is?"

He shook his head solemnly. "He just told me to ask where Kate was."

"Did he come in with you?" She was staring straight into his eyes, which were terrified. As he began to respond, a single shot rang out, echoing on the high ceiling, and then the screams started. Olivia grabbed a scared nurse, pulling her down as well. "Keep him here." She said, motioning to Ethan, who had curled up under the desk, holding his hands over his ears. "He doesn't leave here, he doesn't say anything, until I come back." The nurse nodded, sitting down next to him and holding him close.

Olivia peered out around the side of the desk, and a cold sense of dread settled in her stomach as she saw the officer sprawled on the ground in front of Kate's wide open door. She swallowed quickly, skirting the body, stopping outside the door, and peeking in. Isaac Slater stood directly in front of the bed, his gun handing at his side. Kate was sitting bolt upright in her bed, and her eyes flickered to Olivia. Even though her expression was impassible, her eyes were filled with terror. Liv held a finger to her lips, and Kate turned back to staring down Slater, who was deep in a soliloquy.

"I didn't mean to hurt you, Kate, I was just out of control. It's like, when you know you shouldn't do something, but can't stop yourself. Like when you were little, and took a cookie when your parents weren't looking. You're my cookie. And your brother, he's so sweet. I saw him…"

Kate interrupted him angrily. "What did you do to him, you sick son-of-a-bitch?"

"No, no, nothing bad." Slater said, shaking his head. "I would never. I just want to protect him, but you got in the way. You were just right there, and I couldn't stop myself. I'm so sorry, Kate, I shouldn't have hurt you." He wiped a tear from his eye, and Olivia slipped into the room, her gun trained on his heart.

"Isaac Slater, drop your weapon." She said evenly. "Put it down now!"

"No!" He looked confused. "No, you aren't supposed to be here." His shaking hand waved the gun at Kate, who had scuttled out of bed to stand shakily behind Olivia.

"Put the weapon down, Slater. It's over."

"I'm not going to hurt her. I just wanted to apologize. I never wanted to hurt Kate."

"Alright, you apologized." Olivia said carefully. "Kate and I both heard you. You didn't mean to hurt any of those women, did you?"

"They weren't taking care of their sons. They got what they deserved. But Kate…Kate, I never meant to hurt you."

"Slater, it's over." Olivia repeated. "Put it down."

"No, it's not over. I hurt her." He said, seemingly to herself. "I hurt her. What did you do? You hurt her… why? Why did you do it?" Suddenly, he swept the barrel underneath his throat.

"Slater, you don't need to do that. It wasn't your fault. Put the weapon down."

"I don't deserve to live. Kate, I'm so sorry."

"Isaac, don't you think you owe her? This is no way to show her you're sorry." Her voice was calm and even, but she was running out of things to say.

"Just let him do it!" Kate shrieked.

"Slater, put the weapon down. You don't need to do this." Her mind whirled as she tried to think of something else. What had the profilers said? "Isaac…Think of all the other little boys out there that need your help." The words tasted like venom as they slid out of her mouth.

"The other boys?" His eyes became wide and hopeful. "You think I could still help them?"

"If you put the gun down." Olivia said. She saw more police officers outside the door, but shook her head at them; she would handle it. "Isaac, think about it. Killing yourself will not help anybody. Not Kate, not the boys or their mothers."

"You…you think so?"

"I know so."

He waited a few seconds, but slowly dropped the gun from his chin. It fell out of his hand, skittering on the floor. "So what happens now?" Olivia just shook her head, holstering her gun and picking up his, handing it off to the officer that had snuck into the room too.

She pulled his hands behind his back, disgust running through her body. "Isaac Slater, you're under arrest for the rape and assault of Kate Jessup, and the kidnapping and assault of Alisa and Ethan Casey."

"No…what? But you said…" Suddenly, he was panicking, twisting wildly in Olivia's vice-like grip.

"I lied."


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

"It's over now." Olivia said, sitting down next to Kate and Ethan. She handed them each a sandwich and a bottle of soda, and smiled at Alisa, lying in the bed. Her imprisonment had left her bruised and starved, even though Ethan had been fully fed and cared for. They hadn't left each other's' sides since they were reunited, but the happy family still had a long way to go. "Slater was arraigned this morning, and was remanded into Federal custody to be tried in DC. He's not getting out any time soon, believe me."

"Thank you." Alisa murmured. "Thank you for my family."

"Just doing our job, Alisa," Olivia smiled gently.

"No. You did more than your job. Kate told me what you did for her." Kate smiled and patted Ethan's knee with her good hand. Her other arm was still in a cast, but the most vibrant of the bruises were fading and most of the swelling had gone down around her face. "If I had lost my family…I don't know what I would have done."

"I understand." Olivia said. "I only wish we had gotten to you sooner. Both of you."

"Olivia, can I talk to you?" Morgan had appeared in the doorway, and she twisted around to see him. His face looked tired and mildly concerned.

"Um, yeah." She said, standing up. "I'll come back and talk to you later, guys." The expression on his face had caught her attention, but Kate spoke up quickly as she was leaving the room.

"Olivia—I just wanted to say thank you. Seriously, you got me through this." Her eyes were brimming with tears, but not the kind that needed comfort. Olivia stepped back in the room and wrapped her arms around Kate, something she had wanted to do ever since Kate first woke up in the hospital.

"Always." It was a promise, and also an encouragement. "You have my number." She whispered. "If you ever need anything, _ever_…call me." She walked out of the room, and Morgan motioned to a vacant bank of chairs.

"Sit and talk?" The unused hallway was dimly lit, and completely empty.

"I thought you guys were on the way to the airport." Olivia said, slouching in one of the hard plastic seats.

"I wanted to talk to you before I left. But first, about what you were saying when I came in…you can't blame yourself for what happened to them. You know that, right?"

"Of course I know it…but I don't really believe it. Seconds matter in this business, and hours can mean the difference between life and death. I mean, do you really believe that it doesn't matter that we weren't there two hours earlier? We probably just missed him as we were driving in."

"We aren't responsible for what other people do. This case…it had a happy ending."

"Happy endings aren't happily ever after. Kate's scarred, her wounds won't go away overnight. And the police officer who was killed point blank right in front of me? That's not a happy ending." She was still shaken by that single shot, yards away from her head as she ducked to protect Ethan.

"But you can't blame yourself for that. You can't take the world on your shoulders, Liv. You're not Atlas."

"I can damn well try to be." Olivia responded. She crossed her arms defensively over her chest. "If I'm not trying, I'm not doing my job."

"That's what you think?" Morgan asked, surprised. "That's not the way it works. Cases get personal, sure, that's how we solve them. But at the end of the day, we're fighting a war. All of us, together. Evil never stops coming, and one person won't be able to stop it when it does."

"Well that's quite a speech." She said, standing up. "You done yet?"

"No." Morgan glared, tapping the chair next to him. "Sit. What I actually came here to talk about was what happens after this case. After you finish your reports, and go home."

She snorted. "What, you want to come home with me?"

"I wouldn't mind," He laughed, something more than joking building in his eyes. "But no. Cases like these, I can't help but remember what happened to me…in nightmares, or just randomly while I'm eating dinner, or going for a jog." He held out his card, a number penciled in on the back. "I figure it might be easier to talk to a stranger than your partner or your captain. If you ever need to."

"A stranger?" Olivia asked, raising her eyebrows and examining the card.

Morgan stood up, his eyes warm and concerned. "A friend." He amended, and he strode away down the hallway, not looking back.

* * *

_Thank you all for reading this story, and for your support and encouragement! Keep your eyes open for either an NCIS fanfic or a Criminal Minds story...whichever one I finish first! Happy Reading!_

_-FlynnWriter_


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